Furtive and bashful, embracing bird on time (8)
I believe the answer is:
stealthy
'furtive' is the definition.
('stealthy' can be a synonym of 'furtive')
'bashful embracing bird on time' is the wordplay.
'bashful' becomes 'shy' (I've seen this before).
'embracing' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'bird' becomes 'teal' (teal is a kind of bird**).
'on' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'time' becomes 't'.
'teal'+'t'='tealt'
'shy' placed around 'tealt' is 'STEALTHY'.
'and' is the link.
(Other definitions for stealthy that I've seen before include "Moving surreptitiously" , "'Furtive, surreptitious (8)'" , "Secretive, silent" , "Acting in furtive or covert manner" , "Unobtrusive" .)